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Brian Beeson pulls down a rebound for Cook Inlet Academy in front of Ninilchik's Javin Halpin in the second half of Saturday's Peninsula Conference Tournament championship game.
Photo by M. Scott Moon

Brian Beeson pulls down a rebound for Cook Inlet Academy in front of Ninilchik's Javin Halpin in the second half of Saturday's Peninsula Conference Tournament championship game.

Photo by M. Scott Moon

The Cook Inlet Academy Eagles beat the Ninilchik Wolverines in the boys championship game of the 2005 Peninsula Conference basketball tournament Saturday at Soldotna Middle School.

The Eagles will represent the conference at the state tournament in Anchorage next week with a impressive, undefeated record of 24-0 for the season.

"I'd be lying if I wasn't nervous about going to the state tournament," CIA boys coach Bruce Gabriel said. "We just didn't underestimate Ninilchik, they're a great team."

In Saturday's championship game, CIA dominated throughout the game and cruised to a 50-25 win. Ninilchik was outscored and limited to single digits in scoring in each quarter.

"We stuck with the game plan and got boosted from Andy (Hall) returning to the line-up," Gabriel said.

CIA's early double-digit lead was cut to 15-7 with only 10 seconds left in the first quarter, though, as Ninilchik's Javin Halpin hit a 3-pointer.

In the second quarter, the Eagles kept Ninilchik on the ropes, but Josh Klapack converted on a 3-point play at the four-minute mark as Ninilchik closed to within 21-15. It would be as close as the Wolverines would get, though, as CIA shut down Ninilchik's offense for a 27-15 lead at halftime.

The second half was much the same as CIA continued to keep Ninilchik scoreless, while using a 12-0 run that stretched through the second and third quarters to hold a 33-15 advantage following a Brian Beeson put-back with five minutes left in the third quarter. Jeremy Franchino, after going scoreless in the first half, kept the momentum going as he drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give CIA its biggest lead, 40-21, at the the end of third period.

Ninilchik scored the first four points in the final period, but their small run was thwarted by CIA as it slowed the tempo of the game down with its patient offense and went on for a state tournament berth.

Ninilchik shot a dismal 6-of-21 in the second half and was outscored 23-10.

"It feels great to win and be a part of all of this," Beeson said. "We're playing good defense and we should do well at state."

"We didn't have an answer for their (CIA) inside game," Ninilchik coach Keith Presley said. "Last time we played them it was their perimeter game that got to us, this time Blake Gabriel and Brian (Beeson) beat us inside."

Josh Klapack was Ninilchik's lone double-digit scorer with 12 points and nearly had a double-double, too, with nine rebounds.

Angels boys 51, Wolverines 33

After dropping the championship game to CIA earlier in the day, Ninilchik had one last chance for state tournament berth, playing against the Bristol Bay Angels, who had beat Nikolaevsk in the consolation bracket after dropping a 58-56 overtime game to Ninilchik on Friday.

Despite an early deficit, the Bristol Bay boys rode tournament most-valuable-player Zach Klein, who had a game-high 28 points, to a 51-33 victory while capturing the second slot from the Peninsula Conference to advance to the state tournament next week.

"We played a great first quarter," Presley said. "We just found out how hard it is to try and beat a very tough team twice."

Ninilchik entered the game with a focused mind-set and led 15-10 after the first quarter.

Cook Inlet Academy's Andy Hall goes up for a shot in the second half Saturday against Ninilchik. CIA won the game to claim the Peninsula Conference championship.

Photo by M. Scott Moon

"We were down at first and I thought our chances of going to state were slipping away right from the start, but they (Ninilchik) started missing shots," Bristol Bay coach Larry Scott said.

Indeed the Wolverines did falter in the second period as they shot only 1-of-8 from the field, with the lone basket coming from Connor Cooper with 2:54 remaining in the period.

Klein netted 13 points in the second quarter, though, as Ninilchik was outscored 17-4.

"They took it to us in the second," Presley said, "...we were still down from losing the championship, though, but they had played a game today as well."

Offensive trouble continued for Ninilchik in the second half as they managed to score only three points as a team while Bristol Bay held a 37-22 advantage entering the fourth quarter.

Bristol Bay held off Ninilchik throughout the fourth quarter, too, as the Wolverines would only get as close as 41-26, which was early on in the period.